CANCER

HOW TO DIE IN OREGON

hharvey CANCER, CIVIL RIGHTS, DEATH/EUTHANASIA, DEBATE/ARGUMENT, DOCUMENTARY, G rated Not Rated, HEALTH/MEDICAL

Winner of the Sundance Grand Jury Prize, this immensely moving film chronicles the right to die with dignity in Oregon, the first state to legalize physician-assisted suicide. From the opening scene, in which a terminally ill patient takes a lethal prescription and dies, How to Die in Oregon is clearly a departure from the all too common sensationalized debates surrounding life’s most personal issues. Filmmaker Peter Richardson accompanies wife, proud mother and cancer patient Cody Curtis throughout her decision process. With her family, her doctor and an advocate from the Compassion and Choices support group, Cody’s exploration of her remaining time presents a far more even-handed reasoning of the issue than any special interest group from either side could possibly offer. This powerful film is doubtless one of the year’s most intelligent examinations, not of death, but of life lived courageously

Streaming

 

PLANTA 4

hharvey CANCER, COMING OF AGE, CULTURAL, FOREIGN, G rated Not Rated, SOUTH/CENTRAL AMERICA, SPANISH

Based on writer Albert Espinosa’s own experiences as a teenager in a hospital cancer ward, 4th Floor follows the relationships of a gang of wheelchair-bound teenage boys – “the baldies” – who live together in the cancer ward on the fourth floor of a hospital. The boys all have remarkably positive attitudes, and are determined to defy the misfortune that life has dealt them. There are new patients whose acquaintances are worth making, nurses at whom they can poke fun, a basketball team to run and nightly saunters down the hospital corridors. There’s even love to be found a few floors up! Flipping between comedy and tragedy, this touching tale of friendship manages to remain upbeat despite its grave subject matter.